Carrier bags and boxes



July 18, 1961 H. F. GATWARD CARRIER BAGS AND BOXES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Oct. 28, 1958 INVENTOR HARRY 7T GATWARD BY 5 A T TORNEYS July 18,1961 H. F. GATWARD CARRIER BAGS AND BOXES 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct.28, 1958 INVENTOR HARRY FT @ATk/ARD g9 ATTORNE Y8 July 18, 1961 H. F.GATWARD CARRIER BAGS AND BOXES 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 28, 1958INVENTOR HARRY 7. GATh ARD y y H ATTORNEYS nit-6d States P rser CARRIERBAGS AND BOXES 7 Harry Frederick Gatward, 72 Tottenham Court Road,

' Londou W. 1, England Filed Oct. 28, 1958, Ser. No. 770,174 laimspriority, application Great Britain July 4, 1958 2 Claims. (Cl. 229-54)This invention relates to carrier bags composed of paper or othercomparatively thin material, which bags are usually stiifened orreinforced at the mouth, or boxes composed of stiffer materials such ascardboard.

In some cases such carrier bags are not provided with any special formof closure flap for sealing the bag at the mouth, but in other casesspecial overlapping flaps are provided which are superimposed when thebag is closed. In the case of boxes it is the usual practice to providesuperimposed flap-like portions which are held in their superimposedposition to maintain the box closed.

The chief object of the present invention is to provide improved closuremeans for such carrier bags or boxes which will more effectivelymaintain the bag or box closed at the mouth and also provide aconvenient carrying handle. I

A carrier bag or box in accordance with the present invention has one ormore string or like carrying handles so associated therewith that thetension in the handle or handles under the weight of the contents of thebag or box holds the mouth of the bag or box closed.

It is proposed in carrying out the invention to provide the mouth of thebag or box with one or more registering holes through which one or bothextremities of the string or like carrying handle can be passed, theextremity or extremities of the handle carrying a T tag or itsequivalent which can be easily threaded through the registering holesand will then assume a position in which it cannot be withdrawn therebyholding the mouth of the bag or box closed under the tension in thecarrying handle.

Referring to the accompanying drawings:

FIGURES 1 to 4 illustrate one form of carrier bag in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIGURES 5 and 6 illustrate a modified construction;

FIGURES 7 to 8, 9 to 10, 11 and 12 illustrate four further alternativeforms.

" l Referring in the first case to FIGURES l to 4, the

which the extremities of the handle are passed, each exp when theba'g'is closed.

carrier bag illustrated is of the box type, i.e. the bag when opened outto receive a garment or article of clothing or other commodity, is ofsubstantially rectangular box-like shape, such a bag being particularlypleasing to the eye and not being so liable to crease the article orarticles contained therein.

The bag is indicated generally by reference numeral 1, the bag beinginternally stiffened at the mouth by means of a rectangular stiffeningmember 2 and a second stiifening member 3 associated with the oppositeside of the bag, which second stiffening member has its corners cut oifat an angle of 45.

The bag is formed with longitudinally arranged crease lines 4 and withadditional crease lines 5, shown more clearly in FIGURE 3.

The arrangement is such that the bag can be distributed in the flatcondition shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, but can be opened out into thepositions shown in FIG- URES 3 and 4 by the retailer when packing thebag with the commodity which has been sold, the bag when opened outbeing of rectangular box like form.

FIGURES 1 and 2 illustrate opposite sides of the bag and it will be seenthat in FIGURE 1 the front side of the bag is formed with two holes 6through which is passed a string or like carrying handle 7, and with twoholes 8 which are more widely spaced apart and through tremity carryinga device generally known in the trade as a T tag 9. Such a deviceusually takes the form of a length of metal bent into the form of a tubeand encircling the extremity of the string handle, the string handleemerging from the tube at its centre so that the tube normally lies atright angles to the handle, but can be moved into alignment therewith sothat it can be easily threaded through the holes which have been formedin the bag during manufacture.

As will be seen clearly from FIGURE 2, the opposite side of the bag isformed with a slot 10, the extremities of which are of considerably lesswidth and terminate in holes 11. The same side of the bag as is formedwith the slot is also formed with two holes 12 for a purpose hereinafterreferred to.

Referring now to FIGURES 3 and 4, in FIGURE 3 that portion of the mouthof the bag which is provided with the rectangular reinforcement 2 hasbeen turned downwardly and the edges of the bag adjacent the month havebeen folded inwardly, only the flap like part carrying reinforcement 3now projecting in an upward direction. The lip part of the handle 7 hasbeen threaded through slot 10 and in course of turning the upwardlyprojecting flap into the position shown in FIGURE 4, the two T tags arepassed upwardly through the holes 12 and the string handle drawnupwardly into a position in which the handle enters the holes 11. Thishas the effect of drawing the upstanding flap downwardly into a positionin which it lies in facial engagement with the lower flap, therebyholding the mouth of the bag closed, the tension in the handle when thebag is laden and being carried, assisting in this process.

In the case of FIGURES 5 and 6, two such handles are provided, but onlyhandle 7 is used to secure the upper flap in its closed position, thesecond handle 7a being merely an additional handle which may be fittedfor ease of carrying and for the more uniform distribution of the weightof the bags contents over the reinforced top, particularly in the caseof a comparatively large bag.

Referring now to FIGURES 7 and 8, an alternative form of carrier bag isillustrated and in this case the bag is of the type in which the twosides of the bag adjacent the mouth are brought together into facialengagement The bag is preferably reinforced at the mouth, either bymeans of cardboard reinforcing members or by folding the material of thebag inwardly so that the bag adjacent the mouth is of double thickness.

It will be seen in this case that each side of the bag adjacent themouth is formed with a series of holes, 8, both sets of holesregistering when the bag is closed.

The carrying handle 7 in this case consists of a comparatively longlength of string or other flexible material which is threaded throughthe holes in a zig-zag manner, the tags 9 on the extremities of thehandle preventing the handle being pulled through the registering holesunder the weight of the bags contents.

The slack centre part of the string is use-d as a carrying handle, thetension in the string serving to hold the two sides of the bag firmlytogether in facial engagement adjacent the mouth.

As in the construction previously described, the bag is formed withlongitudinal crease lines 4 so that the bag is of the gusset type.

In FIGURES 9 and 10 a more simple construction is shown wherein bothsides of the bag adjacent the mouth are formed with two holes, whichholes are brought into correct register when the extremities of thehandle have been passed through the holes in the opposite side of thebag and the handle has been tensioned as in FIGURE 10,

Patented July 18, 1961 the weight of the contents serving to maintainthe mouth of the bag closed when the bag is being carried in a ladencondition.

As in the case of FIGURES 7 and 8., it is preferred to provide the mouthof the bag with an internal or other type of reinforcement, whilst theholes may also 'be reinforced if desired 'by means of washer-likestiffening members 13.

The string or like handle as in the previously described constructionsis provided at its extremities with T tags or equivalent members whichcan be easily threaded through the registering holes and will thenprevent return movement, the length of the tubular part of the tag beinggreater than the hole diameter.

Instead of using two pairs of registering holes as in FIGURES 9 and 10,a single hole may be provided in each bag side which holes will bebrought into register by passing both ends of the string handletherethrough. If desired the holes may take the form of a slot insteadof being of the circular formation shown, but in such a case the lengthof the tubular or other bar-like part of the T tag will necessarily haveto *be greater than the length of the slot.

FIGURE 11 is a fra-gmental perspective view of a carrier bag of the kindusually provided with a pair of string handles 7. In this case, however,the extremities of each handle carry a T tag 9 and each edge of the bagis formed with four holes 8 which may if necessary be reinforced' withwasher-like stifiening members 13. The handles may be arranged forexample as shown, or the T tags on one or both handles may be passedthrough the holes which are not being used in the opposite edge of thebag in which case the tension in the handles will hold the mouth of thebag firmly closed.

In the case of FIGURE 12 the mouth of the bag is folded over to bringfour pairs of holes 8 previously formed in the bag, accurately intoregister in which case the T tags 9 on the single string or like handleare threaded through to hold the mouth of the bag closed in folded overposition.

Although in the foregoing description reference has been made to the useof a T tag, it is within the scope of the invention to employ anyotherdevice having the same eifect, namely of *being easily insertablethrough the holes or slots, but effectively preventing accidentalremoval. Such a device may be of barbed arrow shape, in which lattercase the barb-like parts will prevent accidental withdrawal.

Furthermore, in the case of the construction shown in 4 FIGURES 1 to 4,although both ends of the handle are provided with T tags, only one endmay he so fitted, in

which case the registering holes in the superimposed flaps may occupy acentral position. It is, however, preferred from the point of view ofsecurity to employ a construction shown in FIGURES 1 to 4.

I claim: 7

l. A carrying container comprising a bag having an open month, saidmouth including side and end portions fold'able inwardly and upon eachother to close said mouth, stiffening members on said side portions, oneof said side portions having openings formed therethrough, the otherside portion having a slot and openings therein, a string-like carryinghandle having tags on the ends disposed when the mouth is closed so thatthe tags engage the upper of the side portions and the string passesthrough said openings and forms a loop passing through the slot toprovide a carrying handle the openings in the upper of the side portionsbeing in alignment with openings in the lower of the side portionsfaplurality of the string-like carrying handles being provided for moreuniformly distributing the weight of the contents of the container overthe closed mouth.

2. A carrying container comprising a bag having an open month, saidmouth including side and end portions foldable along fold lines inwardlyand upon each other to close said month, one of said side portionshaving a pair of openings adjacent its fold line and a second pairinwardly spaced from said fold line, the other side portion havingopenings and a slot therein registering with the said pairs of openingsrespectively when the sides are folded, a string-like carrying handlehaving tags on the ends disposed when the mouth is closed so that thetags engage the outer surface of the upper of the side portions adjacentsaid first pair of openings and the string passes through said pairs ofregistered openings inwardly and passes through the second pair ofopenings and the registering slot outwardly to form a combined handleand closure locking means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,349,654 Bergen Aug. 17, 1920 1,690,046 Ament Oct. 30, 1928 1,905,982Duvall Apr. 25, 1930 2,385,576 Israel Sept. 25, 1945 2,660,294 YoungNov. 24, 1953 2,836,344- Gatward May 27, 1958

